“When you try to please everyone, you please no one. “

Rumors

The UND Nickname Committee has narrowed down the list of potential names to five.  The names that made the final five are (vote tally in parentheses):

  • Fighting Hawks (33)
  • Sundogs (40)
  • North Stars (41)
  • Nodaks (44) 
  • Roughriders (45)

Now, time to give my/our thoughts on the process, names, and everything else.

  1. The process and how we got to where we are has been flawed, to say the least, from jump street.
  2. Our top three choices for a nickname that would have made sense are not on the final five list.  There are a couple names we could get behind, however.  More talk about that later.
  3. The committee has officially forwarded the five names to Dr. Kelley and the ball is in his court.
  4. We saw they are going to undergo a form of market research on each name to see how viable it is as a nickname, logo, etc.  This would need to be outsourced creating additional cost.
  5. Voting will not take place until students are back on campus for fall semester.
  6. This “public vote” will consist of UND students/faculty, UND Alumni, Residents of North Dakota, and UND Stakeholders (ties to Alumni Association).  Makes sense.  The only part that worries us is the Residents of North Dakota getting a vote.  There are obviously going to be those that purposely choose a name they think will be the worst for UND.
  7. Don’t be surprised if Dr. Kelley eliminates a name or two before the public vote.  Voting on five names is not the best way to go about it.  25% vote could win.  Is that really the majority?
  8. The current committee has performed their job and from what I understand is officially done.  We believe they did their job, which was to provide Dr. Kelley with five names to pick from, and did it well.  They did eliminate some names early on that should have hung around, like the Aerospace related names, but so be it.  They were going to get ripped no matter what because I have yet to hear a name that everybody likes.
  9. We do not in any way, shape, or form support the choosing of the nickname “Sundogs”.  We also feel the VAST majority agree with us on this one.  VAST majority.
  10. When looking at last nights votes, it was interesting to see that current football player Dayo Idowu and current volleyball player Chelsea Moser both voted “North Dakota” lowest (7).  Idowu supported “Roughriders” (1) and Moser supported “North Stars” (1).
  11. Staying “North Dakota” was all or nothing.  It had three first-place votes and seven last-place votes.   “Roughriders” also had three first-place votes.
  12. Regarding the first sentence in this post:  The initial nickname suggestion process where anybody in the world could submit a name suggestion was an embarrassment and complete waste of time.  The all-inclusive placating slowed down the process unnecessarily.  Transparency is one thing but including everyone in something that doesn’t pertain to everyone is misguided at best; flat-out detrimental and sophomoric at worst.